The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03 - Коллектив авторов

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thou not in the insidious Heart to find

        The source of Trouble to the limpid mind?

          No!—then thine Innocence thy Mentor be!

        Science can teach thee naught—she learns from thee!

        Each law that lends lame succor to the Weak—

        The cripple's crutch—the vigorous need not seek!

        From thine own self thy rule of action draw;

        That which thou dost—what charms thee—is thy Law,

        And founds to every race a code sublime—

        What pleases Genius gives a Law to Time!

        The Word—the Deed—all Ages shall command,

        Pure if thy lip and holy if thy hand!

        Thou, thou alone mark'st not within thy heart

        The inspiring God whose Minister thou art,

        Know'st not the magic of the mighty ring

        Which bows the realm of Spirits to their King:

        But meek, nor conscious of diviner birth,

        Glide thy still footsteps thro' the conquered Earth!

* * * * *

      VOTIVE TABLETS

      [Under this title Schiller arranged that more dignified and philosophical portion of the small Poems published as Epigrams in the Musen Almanach; which rather sought to point a general thought, than a personal satire.—Many of these, however, are either wholly without interest for the English reader, or express in almost untranslatable laconism what, in far more poetical shapes, Schiller has elsewhere repeated and developed. We, therefore, content ourselves with such a selection as appears to us best suited to convey a fair notion of the object and spirit of the class.—Translator]

* * * * *

      MOTTO TO THE VOTIVE TABLETS

        What the God taught—what has befriended all

        Life's ways, I place upon the Votive Wall.

* * * * *

      THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

      (ZWEIERLEI WIRKUNGSARTEN)

        The Good's the Flower to Earth already given—

          The Beautiful, on Earth sows flowers from Heaven!

* * * * *

      VALUE AND WORTH

        If thou hast something, bring thy goods—a fair return be thine;

        If thou art something, bring thy soul and interchange with mine.

* * * * *

      THE KEY

        To know thyself—in others self discern;

        Wouldst thou know others? Read thyself—and learn!

* * * * *

      THE DIVISION OF RANKS

        Yes, in the moral world, as ours, we see

        Divided grades—a Soul's Nobility;

        By deeds their titles Commoners create—

        The loftier order are by birthright great.[5]

* * * * *

      TO THE MYSTIC

        Spreads Life's true mystery round us evermore,

        Seen by no eye, it lies all eyes before.

* * * * *

      WISDOM AND PRUDENCE

        Wouldst thou the loftiest height of Wisdom gain?

        On to the rashness, Prudence would disdain;

        The purblind see but the receding shore,

        Not that to which the bold wave wafts thee o'er!

* * * * *

      THE UNANIMITY

        Truth seek we both—Thou, in the life without thee and around;

        I in the Heart within—by both can Truth alike be found;

        The healthy eye can through the world the great Creator track—

        The healthy heart is but the glass which gives creation back.

* * * * *

      THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS

        All that thou dost be right—to that alone confine thy view,

        And halt within the certain rule—the All that's right to do!

        True zeal the what already is would sound and perfect see;

        False zeal would sound and perfect make the something that's to be!

* * * * *

      TO ASTRONOMERS

        Of the Nebulæ and planets do not babble so to me;

        What! is Nature only mighty inasmuch as you can see?

        Inasmuch as you can measure her immeasurable ways,

        As she renders world on world, sun and system to your gaze?

        Though through space your object be the Sublimest to embrace,

        Never the Sublime abideth—where you vainly search—in space!

* * * * *

      THE BEST GOVERNED STATE

        How the best state to know?—It is found out,

        Like the best women—that least talked about.

* * * * *

      MY BELIEF

        What thy religion? Those thou namest—none!

        None! Why?—Because I have religion!

* * * * *

      FRIEND AND FOE

        Dear is my friend—yet from my foe, as from my friend, comes good;

        My friend shows what I can do, and my foe shows what I should.

* * * * *

      LIGHT AND COLOR

        Dwell, Light, beside the changeless God—God spoke and Light began;

        Come, thou, the ever-changing one—come, Color, down to Man!

* * * * *

      FORUM OF WOMEN

        Woman—to judge man rightly—do not scan

        Each separate act;—pass judgment on the Man!

* * * * *

      GENIUS

        Intellect can repeat what's been fulfill'd,

        And, aping Nature, as she buildeth—build;

        O'er Nature's base can haughty Reason dare

        To pile its lofty castle—in the air.

        But only thine, O Genius, is the charge,

        In Nature's kingdom Nature to enlarge!

* * * * *

      THE IMITATOR

        Good out of good—that art is known to all—

        But

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